Members of the Cadiz City Council unanimously passed a tree ordinance, which will establish a committee that will oversee tree planning and maintenance within the city, when they met last Tuesday evening.

It was the second reading of the ordinance. Council members were worried about how much power previous versions of the ordinance gave the tree committee over private property owners. The most recent version appears to explicitly apply only to public property, said Cadiz City Clerk Lisa Rogers.

Becky Boggess and Leida Underhill were on hand to answer any questions Council members might have had about the tree ordinance or the tree committee. Boggess said the ordinance only deals with public property.

Indeed, the ordinance states that the “Cadiz city council desires to provide clear guidance for planting, maintaining, and removing trees from streets, parks, and other public places.”

Underhill said they have a list of non-invasive trees that they would like to see planted in the city, as the whole point of the ordinance is “to try and make it beautiful again.”

Boggess said they hope to get Tree City USA status and a $5,000 grant, the match for which can be either donation or “in-kind” – that is, work done by city workers, such as leaf blowing, can be counted for the match.

For the rest of this story, see this week's issue of The Cadiz Record or subscribe to our e-Edition by calling 270-522-6605.